


All That You Are

by little_librarian



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24442297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_librarian/pseuds/little_librarian
Summary: John gestures to the phone in her pocket. “You’re different when that thing ain't on.”And that’s the crux of it, really. She’s spent so many years cultivating the image of Zari Tarazi, Dragon Girl, whose life is seamlessly perfect, whose boyfriend never cheated on her and whose parents aren’t ashamed of her. She knows what people say about her. John Constantine is just the first one to say it to her face and mean it.
Relationships: John Constantine/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi
Comments: 22
Kudos: 105





	All That You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Has the finale aired? No. Am I writing post-season fic and hoping I won't need an AU tag? Absolutely yes

Zari has spent the last half hour pacing around the lab with her phone, trying to find an angle that has good lighting and doesn’t make it super obvious that she’s filming onboard a futuristic time ship. She hasn’t had time to decorate her room to extent that others have, and the gray, windowless space definitely doesn’t fit her brand. Behrad’s set up, with all its pillows and blankets and dim lamps, affords a sense of normalcy that she fully intends to capitalize on.

At last, she settles on the couch, taps record, and launches into her familiar greeting. She hasn’t made a video in so long; it’s comforting to slip back into the controlled cadence of her on-camera voice after everything that’s happened. This, at least, is something completely hers.

She’s only minutes into filming when John ambles in and says, loud enough to interrupt the video, “There you are—what’s happening here?”

Zari’s first instinct is to be annoyed with him for ruining her take. But she’s also touched that he’s sought her out, and the beauty of the temporal zone is that she has plenty of time to make another video.

Still, if he’s going to disturb her filming, the least he can do is be in the shot.

She angles her phone so he’s visible just over her shoulder. “Say hi to the camera, John!”

John immediately looks disgruntled, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Not this again,” he grumbles as he shuffles out of the frame. “Yeah, all right, piss off.”

“Again?” Zari repeats. She takes pity and ends the recording, sliding the phone into her pocket. Perhaps the greatest thing Gideon’s ever made is cute pants with decent pockets.

“Story for another time,” John says. He hovers at the edge of the carpet like he’s unsure if he’s welcome in her space. “Take it that was your influencing?”

Zari says, “Yeah,” and thinks that this would be less awkward if he would just sit down instead of rocking on his heels. “I figure I make a bunch of videos and then send them to my assistant to upload while I’m gone.”

Relief flashes lightning-quick across John’s face, and he finally sits next to her on the couch.

Zari thinks she understands now why he’s so strangely hesitant. He doesn’t want to get close to her only for her to leave, and he doesn’t want to ask her outright without already knowing her response. She’s a bit irritated that she answered his question before he even asked, whether he meant her to or not, but she’s not surprised.

“You’re sticking around, then?” he asks, smug and smiling as if he knew all along what her answer would be.

Zari rolls her eyes, but she can’t help her own little smile when she echoes, “I’m sticking around. I want to know Behrad and I want to see who I can be on this weird ship. But I spent my whole life building my brand and I’m not going to just abandon it.”

She’s been looking straight ahead, if only because she finds these truths easier to speak without making eye contact. When she glances at John, though, she sees he’s looking speculatively at her.

“What?” she huffs.

“Nothing, love,” he says, then gestures to the phone in her pocket. “You’re different when that thing ain't on.”

And that’s the crux of it, really. She’s spent so many years cultivating the image of Zari Tarazi, Dragon Girl, whose life is seamlessly perfect, whose boyfriend never cheated on her and whose parents aren’t ashamed of her. She knows what people say about her. John Constantine is just the first one to say it to her face and mean it.

“Less superficial, you mean,” Zari says.

John winces but doesn’t deny it. His silent honesty is both a blessing and a curse; affirmation that she can be more than a veneer, but a reminder that it’s the altered, polished version of herself that she most often presents to the world.

The more she thinks about it, the more she’s reminded of what they said to each other in the pub. Something occurs to her, and because she wants a break from the spotlight of truth she says, “Oh my god, did you watch my videos?”

John scoffs. He looks away and scrubs his hand through his hair. It’s his biggest tell, and it’s how she knows she’s found a little bit more of who he is when he’s not grandstanding.

“You really think I had time to watch your videos while we were looking for the Loom?”

“You knew what I posted about!”

“Lucky guess.”

It’s such an obvious lie, considering he’d overplayed his hand days ago. Her career isn’t a hot topic on the Waverider, and John had thrown too many details in her face in that backroom to be mere coincidence.

Zari reaches out and grabs his chin, urging him to look at her again. 

“Hey. Don’t lie to me.” Her voice is both soft and forceful, a skill she learned years ago. She’s not upset about his bluff since it’s so trivial and he’s barely trying, but it’s somewhere to start.

John’s breath catches and he stares her for a moment. Then he bobs his head as best he can in her grasp and says, “Yeah, I watched your videos.”

He makes no excuse, offers no cocky justification to try and save face, and Zari is pleased.

She leans over and kisses him because she can’t think of a better response. Here’s this man who dug through her videos to try and know her and only learned that it wouldn’t be enough; who has stretched a personality over himself the way she has and matches her for every hole she pokes in him. This thing between them won’t grow easily, but she knows she wants it.

When they separate, he holds up her phone, stolen right out of her pocket, and says, “Right, so how do we delete that recording?”

Were he anyone else, she’d be outraged—she remembers shouting at Behrad for stealing her phone just to bug her when they were younger. Her phone is her livelihood, after all. But John looks adorably confused and frustrated as he prods at her lock screen, and she finds his mischievous audacity endearing. It’s exactly what she needs after an impromptu honesty hour.

“What, you don’t have a spell for unlocking phones?”

“Not unless you want to see it explode.”

Zari quickly plucks her phone out of his hands.

“Well,” she says, leaning ever closer. “Then you’ll have to earn it.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be fun and fluffy and then my Zari feelings hit, I'm so sorry


End file.
